Construction of the connector trail bridge over Beaver Creek began this week with the erection of a large crane at the work site on 130th Street east of Perry.
The one-mile stretch of 130th Street will be closed between L Place and M Avenue until Tuesday, Nov. 30 for the bridge building, which is part of the phase-four construction of the HTT-RRVT connector trail and extends the trail eastward to M Avenue. The estimated cost of phase four is $669,300.
Construction of phase three is also underway between Quinlan Avenue and the completed trail at R Avenue west of Woodward. The estimated cost of phase three is $569,000.
The trail will eventually connect the High Trestle Trail to the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Perry, making Perry a two-trailhead town and a crossroads for central Iowa tourism.
Some 85% of the project’s estimated overall cost of $5 million to $6 million has been raised, Dallas County Conservation Board Director Mike Wallace said Sept. 30, when the RRVT was inducted into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame.
The Dallas County Conservation Board applied for but did not receive 2022 grant funding from the Iowa Department of Transportation State Recreational Trails program for a $1 million plan to build along Beaver Creek from M Avenue to U.S. Highway 169, a distance of a little more than one mile.